DYNOCOM ENGINEERING - Technical Bulletin - Copyright © 2021 Dynocom Industries Inc.

Windows Device Manager & USB Power Save Configuration

w/Quantum & DC-Controller USB Driver
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT WINDOWS SETUP ISSUE THAT IS RECOMMENDED IN
ORDER TO KEEP THE USB PORT and DC-CONTROLLER DEVICE ACTIVE. IT HAS
NOTHING TO DO WITH WINDOWS SYSTEM POWER CONFIGURATION THRU THE
CONTROL PANEL OR SETTINGS ICON OF WINDOWS.

Introduction
By default, Windows 10 OS turns on Power Save for all USB ports. This can affect the
operation of the DC-Controller and Quantum software if left idle for a period of time ( 10
minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. ). The Dynocom DC-Controller uses a Master/Slave USB
protocol to communicate between Quantum and the DC-Controller over the USB Bus – IT IS
NOT POLLED ( i.e. polling device drivers are always active). Hence, if the USB Master Controller
& Hubs on the PC are not configured to turn the default power state to “off”, then after the
default period of time (depending on Windows settings ), Quantum and the DC-Controller will
cease to communicate with one another and appear to the user as not operational, disallow
adding new runs to sessions, and performing a new dyno run. In this state the user must
recycle the DC-Controller power, close/re-open Quantum and/or close and reopen (or create) a
new session. This is not a software/hardware issue but a Windows 10 USB Master Controller
setup issue on Windows OS. To prevent this from occurring it is recommended to disable USB
Power Control within the Windows Device Driver. NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS POWER
SAVE MODE FOR THE PC.

Windows Device Manager

1. Open up Windows Device Manager as shown.

2. Click the “View” menu and select “Devices by Connection” as shown:

3. Expand the “ACPI x64-based PC\Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System\PCI Express Root

Complex” Hardware ( or equivalent ) tree as shown to expose the USB Host Controllers
as shown (Note: There may be more than one ):
4. Right Click all “USB Root Hub” Items, one by one ( either 2.0, 2.1, 3.0 etc. ) and click
“Properties” as shown:

5. Click the “Power Management” Tab of the Properties Dialog as shown ( by default, the
“Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” will be checked on ALL
Windows 10 OS ( and 7.0) systems ):

6. Uncheck the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” and do the
preceding steps for All USB Controllers and USB Root Hub entries.
7. Ensure the DC-Controller is ON and find the entry called “Dynocom USB Controller” as
shown:

8. Right click the “Dynocom USB Controller” device and click “Properties” as above. Click
the “Power Management” Tab and disable all power save configurations as shown:
9. Close the Device Manager, Turn off the DC-Controller, and re-boot the PC.
10. After the USB Host Controller, USB Root Hubs, and Dynocom USB Controller have the
power save disabled, the USB port (DC-Controller Driver) will continue to remain open
without needing to restart the DC-Controller to re-initialize the port etc..